Miami is taking your state’s talent to South Beach

Oliver Wiseman’s recent City Journal article on Miami paints an optimistic picture from urban America.

Miami is the unofficial capitol of Latin America, and unlike many large cities Miami is politically competitive rather than mono-partisan. Wiseman describes anti-communism as being a part of Miami’s cultural DNA and Francis Suarez, Miami’s Republican Mayor, has become famous for attracting business to the city.

It seems to be working: both finance and tech firms have been moving in.

“We are a city that believes in capitalism,” Wiseman quotes Suarez. “That believes in innovation as a means of democratizing opportunities.” It seems to be working:

Away from the flashy tech hub sales pitch, he pushes an agenda that focuses on low taxes, combating homelessness, and encouraging school choice and a well-funded police department. In January, Suarez takes over as chairman of the Conference of Mayors, an organization of city leaders. From that position, he hopes to push his center-right brand of urban policy on a national stage.

Some of this, he concedes, is not replicable—palm trees wave outside his office, as if a reminder of the city’s natural advantages were needed—but part of it is. “Miami has changed in the last ten years,” says Suarez. “It’s become the prototypical city, the city that you want to be like.”

Many city leaders talk a good game on opportunity and class mobility, but then something gets lost in the execution. Miami however has scoreboard, such as the data from the Trial Urban Assessment NAEP that collects academic data from large cities.

Texans should note of where Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin rank on the below chart compared to Miami.

State Senator Ileana Garcia sums it up with a very telling quote: “What motivates us is freedom: freedom to live your life according to your values, freedom to do what you want with your money and freedom to live in a country where you don’t have to have government hovering over you and telling you what to do all the time.”

Miamians are living in America, they feel good, and they are helping themselves to your state’s talent.

I’ll take a Miami for my state por favor!


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BY Matthew Ladner

Matthew Ladner is executive editor of NextSteps. He has written numerous studies on school choice, charter schools and special education reform, and his articles have appeared in Education Next; the Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice; and the British Journal of Political Science. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received a master's degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Houston. He lives in Phoenix with his wife and three children.